Property: The best of the best for 2011

In order to compile a list of where the best performing property markets were in Australia during 2011 we used the following selection criteria at a capital city, state and national level:

•  Highest median sale prices.
• Most affordable median sale prices.
• Most affordable median sale prices within 10km of the capital city.
• Highest indicative gross rental yields.
• Highest indicative gross rental yields within 10km of the capital city.
• Greatest increase in median selling price over the past 12 months.
• Greatest increase in median selling price over the past five years.
• Highest median weekly advertised rental rates.
• Most affordable median weekly advertised rental rates.
• Highest gross value of sales.

When compiling the analysis for the property market over 2011, it was not surprising to find that 2011 was the weakest performing year for the residential housing market where based on capital city home values, falls of -4% over the year were recorded.

The latest RP Data-Rismark Home Value Index results to October shows that values fell by -4% across the combined capital cities while rest of state house values dropped by -3.5%. As a comparison, over the first 10 months of 2010, capital city home values had increased by 4.9% and regional house values had increased by 2.1%.

There are a number of reasons as to why the market conditions over 2011 have been so poor. Topping the list is the fact that housing credit growth has been extremely limited, coupled with low consumer confidence and affordability barriers. Having said that, and although 2011 did deliver weaker property market conditions over the year, the good news is that there are areas around Australia that actually performed extremely well as shown below:

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